Tuesday, 22 January 2013

The first thing your probably going to need to establish coming into the Photography Business is your budget.The amount of
funding required to get going, don't think of just photography
equipment. You will need a budget for training, travel, website the list
will be quite substantial.Get used to this
kind of thinking because it's important to establish your start up and
working budget and also the client budgets as you branch out
commercially.Draft up a first year projection P & L and Balance sheet.Its easy to incur
costs and even easier to under price jobs which will reduce your
margin. It will be important to perform financially covering all costs
now and in the future plus make a living.Understand the different elements involved in pricing jobs and the value of your work when completed, don't be a busy fool.

If
you have never costed your work maybe you should log the time and
resources involved, often jobs at the lower end up eating up more
resources than you think.Plan to be successful.

Tuesday, 15 January 2013

Manuela came to me via her agency for a portfolio update, I was running a group shoot. Why a group? well dancers can be quite difficult to work with from experience so running a session with a few can help them settle quicker.

I haven't come accross a dancer not confident when performing, however put them in front of a camera and they can stall. It's no biggie, this is where a group dynamic and some music can help, they are used to working as a team so they often help each other with getting the right shape/look and so on.Dancers are highly critical, so time allowing it pays to work at a slower, more deliberate pace.

These shots with Manuela we taken within the first 20 frames of her shoot, going last in the group Manuela knew the look she wanted and nailed it.

Just in time for Fashion Week madness, Casey Brooks rounded up a circle
of today's coolest models outfitted in clinical fashion and set them
loose on set to create "Commited", her high energy fashion video set to
the sounds of Santigold

We see their elegant images everywhere, but what are our favorite models really like? Director Harrison Boyce sets to find out in his appealing new Model Behavior film for Dazed & Confused, which focuses on elegant Estee Lauder face Liu Wen
and her engaging personality.

The film follows Liu as she travels
around the streets of Manhattan looking pristine as ever, but revealing
amusing anecdotes about her life and interests. We learn about her first
job, favorite hobby and why she loves dancing – even though she’s not
very good at it. Take an exclusive first look here and fall for Liu all
over again.

Sunday, 13 January 2013

So you may be thinking of starting your photography business, be sure you understand what is involved in starting a business.

It’s
important to have in place a business plan, an understanding of sales and
marketing, financial budget and know who is your competition.

There is a lot more like break even point, cash flow etc. Get the basics covered to be sure of a good start.

My
biggest piece of advice to anyone new in the
business is to take a small business class, get some kind of sales
training.. It doesn’t matter how great your photographs are or how
good your equipment is if you can’t sell your work.

With a solid plan in place you will likely have less stress and more time and energy to focus on your photography rather than fire fighting, making your output better and be more creative.

Wednesday, 9 January 2013

Photographed Alan Bailey a few weeks ago, a hugely talented guy who is a writer, actor and model.He has written and acted in his feature film The 9th the movie trailer is below.

The 9th Official Trailer from The Film Mill on Vimeo.His film project sounded amazing. The 9th will make it's debut at one of the big film festivals this year, my feeling it will be a huge success so watch out for him and the film.Here are a few of the shots we took when we met.

Friday, 4 January 2013

FOCUS ON IMAGING is Europe's biggest annual imaging show, covering all
your needs from image capture through to output and beyond. Whether you
are a professional image maker or processor, a buyer of image making
equipment or materials, a manufacturer or distributor of products or a
keen hobbyist, a visit to FOCUS ON IMAGING is a must.

Thursday, 3 January 2013

I have been blogging for a few years now and it never ceases to surprise me how popular certain posts are.

Month after month they draw consistent viewers, however from time to time due to the subject being in the news or a feature in the press the hits shoot up.The last few days has seen such a spike with one model I shot a number of time over the last few years.A Google search quickly reveals what is going on in their lives, always interesting from my perspective.So...Blogging Tip of the dayThe key to making your web content search engine friendly and to maximise your drawing potential is to make sure you enter a relevant title in the H1 field, titling images.Keep the title relevantHappy blogging.